[QUOTE="IsThisIt_basic"] I think I just realized the problem with this argument, and it's that you seem to only take into account mainstream music. Please realize that when I'm judging people like Kid Cudi, I'm not just judging him against other mainstream artists. ****, if all I could listen to was mainstream rap, I probably would like Kid Cudi ... but by the same token, I'd probably just stop listening to rap altogether. Naw, when I'm judging people like Kid Cudi, I'm judging them against all rap, including the entire independent rap scene. That's what I listen to; why shouldn't I count it. I mean, in this internet age where major labels and your next-door neighbor have the same distrobution, I don't even see what the point of distinguishing between the two is. To me they're all the same; they're all rap ... the majors are just a little more clueless.
(edit: just to clarify a bit more, I don't really even judge Kanye against stuff beneath him like 50 Cent's "Magic Stick" since, quite frankly, I'd forgotten that song even existed until you mentioned it. The point is, 50 Cent's not even on my radar, so why would I take him into account? What is on my radar is a wide range of much better music)
As for major label rap; you gotta take into account that I've always been a proponent of major label rap. I remember a time just a few years ago when everyone here was on their indie backpack ****, I was one of the only ones here still checking for new quality major label albums. I'll support good music no matter where it comes from.
But to answer your question, as far as I'm concerned, the only good major label rap albums from the past two years would be TI's "Paper Trail" and UGK's "UGK 4 Life". I can go into detail about why if you need to know.
The drought of good major label rap albums isn't really phasing me, because there's plenty of good independent stuff coming out. Personally, this Kid Cudi release doesn't even phase me; it's not even remotely important, but I can see why, if you limit yourself to major label rap, a Kid Cudi album might seem like a big deal. Personally, though, I'd say you're missing out by not looking at the bigger picture and seeing that there are people releasing much more interesting stuff out there.
IceVenom
Yea you're right. I was only taking into account mainstream music. I get where you're coming from, but I think it's fair to say that mainstream and underground cater to different audiences. Thus their style and execution is different. I'm not saying that these two can't be compared or shouldn't be, but I think that there is a line there somewhere. If that makes sense at all. I thought Paper trail was ok, I'm curious (Knowing that you are well versed in the beat production process) why you thought that was one of the only good albums in the last two years. Personally I thought T.i. vs T.I.P. was better. (Granted that was more than 2 years.) I thought Fabolous' new album was really good too. Any thoughts on that? Pretty much just picking your brain at this point.I guess I don't like to use the terms underground and mainstream too much, since neither of them really hold that much value. I mean, think of UGK (UNDERGROUND Kingz); a group that spent the better part of their career as underground rappers, but, at the same time, could easily have been successful on a larger scale if the label (a major label, at that) had only promoted them more. By the same token, there was never really anything special about Soulja Boy that caused him to be a success, it was just the fact that Interscope paid to have his song played all the time. Mainstream and underground doesn't really matter all that much; plenty of underground music would be successful with promotion. Even in this age of the interent, alot of people are still lazy and don't bother to see what's really available to them as far as music goes; they only choose from the 4 or 5 different artists radio gives them. So basically, major or independent are really the only useful terms in comparing music here.
As for TI, though; I thought "Paper Trail" was the first major-label album since Jay-Z's heyday that was so well-rounded. TI (like Jay before he started working with the same producers over and over) really sounded like he had access to any producer he wanted (which he probably did - who would say no?) and it sounds like he chose some of the best of what was available to him. I like this process so much better than just working with whatever producer's is big at the moment. Beyond that, like Jay, he managed to speak on a wide variety of subjects, and handled each of them equally well. There are tons of hallmarks of a great album here ... great production, varied subjects, quality lyrics. Plus, even with guests like Justin Timberlake, he never comprimises his integrity. TI had really reached a point in his career where he would probably sell no matter what he did, so for him to have made such a great album is perhaps that much more amazing.
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